I suppose so. On my distro (Arch, BTW) I need the browser extension, and I can use the non-Flatpak GNOME Extensions just fine (used to be Tweaks before).

I think the GNOME developers want to stop hearing about packaging issues for their apps, so they ask everyone to use the Flatpak versions. I have nothing against it, but there's no point as long as the distro-provided version still works.